It’s in There
For everyone truly born of God’s Spirit this earthly life is a journey. It is a journey from what we
once were to what we will forever become. That journey is often filled with difficult challenges
and perplexing questions, and yet, if we truly understand the heart and the purpose of the One
Who has called us to be His own, we know that that the end is sure, the destination certain. But
how could such an amazing thing be?
King Solomon was a man to whom God gave an extraordinary gift of wisdom. One piece of that
wisdom is worth noting. In Eccl. 3:14 he wrote, “I know that everything God does will endure
forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear
him.” The word, “fear,” as it is used here, means a deep respect.
We need to take God seriously. This is His world, He created it for a reason, for a purpose. But
God is the author of that which is eternal and He’s the only One Who is. And we know that even
though He imparted life to our first parents, that life quickly became corrupted, and that’s what
you and I received when we were born into this world. And if there is to be any destiny beyond
death in the end, it’s going to have to come from somewhere outside of me and outside of you.
Thank God, that’s what the gospel is all about!
Paul often prayed for his readers that God would help them to grow in their knowledge, wisdom,
and understanding. Eph. 1:15-23. We all need that every day, don’t we! There are a number of
pictures that God has given us in scripture to help us to better understand the journey in which
we find ourselves. And I will refer to some of them, but first, here is a simple illustration that I
believe we can all understand.
Consider for a moment a strong, talented, 300-pound football player. He is widely admired. Boys
everywhere want to be like him. But how did he become that? How did it happen?
Just wind the clock back a few years and what do we find? There was a time when that mighty
football player was just a single cell in his mother’s womb. Then that single cell began to
multiply into a fetus, visible only on medical scans. Then, after nine months, the time came for
him to be born, and he came forth as a tiny helpless infant needing constant care.
No one, at that point, would have looked at him and seen the mighty football player he would
later become. And yet, we understand, in a measure, how life works. We understand that all he
would become had actually been there in that single cell, in the genes he had inherited from his
parents. Those genes pre-determined many things including his height, potential strength, hair
color, etc.
And thereby we see a principle of God’s design for life in any form. Whatever characteristics
there are for that life, it’s in there from the beginning. That football player didn’t send away to a
factory somewhere to get what he needed. He simply developed the strength and ability that was
“in there.” What he needed was proper nutrition, exercise, discipline – and time – to bring it all
out.
So how does this relate to the Christian life? What is it that we need to understand? As we
mentioned, there are a number of meaningful illustrations of this principle in scripture. One of
the most significant ones occurs in the words of Jesus shortly before he went to the cross.
John 12:24 says, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Think about that kernel for a
moment. You can hold it in your hand. It seems small and insignificant. But what are you really
holding?
The truth is that you are holding endless fields of wheat! But how could that be? Well, we
understand that there is a life in that little kernel that is capable of reproducing itself given the
proper conditions. There is a part of that kernel, the outer shell, that must die, but there is also an
inner living part that has the power to produce those endless fields of wheat. That’s how life
works. It’s in there!
Of course, earthly life, even though it has the ability to reproduce, is subject to death. The best of
human life here is described in scripture as being like grass, or flowers in a field, that flourish for
a time but then die. I Peter 1:24. No matter what men achieve in this world, no matter how great
they may become in the eyes of others, death reigns in the end. It is all temporary. Even that
football player will, in time, grow old and die.
And this principle of life’s power to reproduce is what Jesus was describing in his words about
the kernel of wheat. The outer shell of that kernel represented the earthly life of Jesus, the
humanity he took upon himself when he came into this world as a little baby. But there was so
much more to him than the man people saw with their earthly eyes. God lived in him. There was
another life in him besides what he got from being born into the human family: God’s immortal
life was there!
In 1 Tim. 6:15-16, Paul describes God in these words: “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the
King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light,
whom no one has seen or can see.” So, only God is immortal and, clearly, we are not. So how
does that change?
2 Tim. 1:9-10 gives a clear answer as to what God, through His power, has done for us: “He has
saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his
own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but
it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed
death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Grace is simply God’s power at work saving those who don’t deserve it. And we certainly don’t!
Without God’s power at work we would all perish. But it is! He sent His Son to walk among us,
to embrace all of our guilt and shame, to pay the debt that we could never pay, and to be our
representative in laying down a corruptible earthly life in order to embrace an immortal
incorruptible one.
The cross, the central event in all of human history, opened a door of opportunity and hope to all
who would, from the heart, confess their sinful need, and hand over their lives to Jesus as both
Lord and Savior. He alone has the power to erase all guilt of sin, to free us from its power, and to
share the very life of God with those willing to surrender and embrace the good news.
That’s why Jesus followed up his words about the kernel of wheat with these words in John
12:25, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.” Remember the oft-quoted words of missionary, Jim Elliott, from so
long ago: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
So, Jesus, first of all, was speaking about his own impending death. But he was also speaking
about a life that would be released as a result of that death, a life that had the power to produce
“many seeds.” Who are they? What does that mean?
First of all, it should be obvious that the expression, many seeds, refers to us, to all who embrace
the cross and the good news that resulted. Christ was a seed. He had earthly, fleshly life; but he
also had divine life within. The seeds he produces are like that. As long as we remain in this
world, we still have these bodies with human life in them. But we also have divine life on the
inside, a life that will live on long after these bodies – not to mention the world itself – are long
gone!
That is why Jesus spoke so plainly in John 3 about the necessity of being “born again” or “born
from above.” As we have said, when we are born into this world of sin and death, all that we will
ever become in an earthly sense is “in there.” It just needs to grow and develop. But the same is
true of the divine life that those who truly repent and believe receive.
That’s why Peter continues in 1 Peter 2:2-3, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so
that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
That football player had life when he was born, but he needed to grow up. That life needed to
develop.
It is the same with the life we receive from Christ. In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul found
himself having to address all kinds of needs in the people. In their everyday lives they still
thought and lived far too much like the people of the world. In 1 Cor 3:1-2 he wrote: “Brothers
and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still
worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for
it.”
Obviously, Peter and Paul were not referring to literal earthly “milk.” Milk is a natural picture of
something in the spiritual realm that is far more real and important. But what is it?
1 Peter 1:22-23 says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you
have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born
again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
There are two very important expressions in these verses: “truth” and “the living and enduring
word of God.”
When God does anything, He simply speaks. His Word is the most powerful force in the
universe. In fact, the universe itself came into being at God’s command. See 2 Peter 3:5-7, Heb.
11:3. That is how salvation itself happens. James 1:18 says, “He chose to give us birth through
the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
The world into which we are born is a kingdom founded upon lies. It is ruled by evil spiritual
beings in rebellion against God and devoted to keeping mankind in a spiritual prison of darkness
and deception. Only truth, spoken by God Himself with divine power can set captives free. And
only God’s truth can enable that new divine life in one born of God to grow up and become
everything He means it to be.
God, in His loving plan, has purposed that this divine life that His children receive in the new
birth would grow up in a world of adversity and trouble. In some ways we can see this truth
pictured even in the natural world. That football player doesn’t reach his goals without
overcoming a lot of challenges. He needs to eat wisely with his goals in mind, exercise many
times when he doesn’t feel like it, and refuse to give up when it’s hard. Thus, his goals can be
reached because of two things: because of all his efforts; and because the potential was “in there”
to begin with. It simply needed to be developed through hard work and time.
In the same way, God has purposed for His family to grow up in this world of adversity. Just as
our earthly muscles only grow strong by being exercised against opposing force, so it is with
“spiritual muscles.”
Scripture refers to this as “overcoming.” God wants all of His children to be “overcomers.” 1
John 5:4 says, “… everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has
overcome the world, even our faith.” In 1 John, chapter 4, John writes about false religious
teachers who were inspired by the spirit of antichrist. In verse 4 he says, “You, dear children, are
from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is
in the world.”
Because of the choice of our first parents to rebel against their Creator, we live in a world of
spiritual darkness and rebellion. It is a world founded, as we have said, upon lies. It is a world
ruled over by an unseen kingdom of wicked spirits who hate God and oppose everything He
does. This kingdom is ruled over by Satan, also called the devil. And the devil has many
“soldiers,” devoted to doing his evil bidding.
Of course, that kingdom cannot prevail but that does not stop the devil from trying anything he
can to attack and hinder every member of God’s kingdom still living in this present world.
I believe it is important for us to understand these things in a deeper way. The facts are obvious:
believers face trouble and opposition, but why? Why would God allow such a thing? Does the
reality of ongoing war mean that the outcome is in doubt? Where are we supposed to get the
strength needed to overcome? Is God looking for “strong” people? What if I fail?
The devil specializes in raising an endless number of questions designed to make believers doubt
and lose confidence. Every question is founded upon a lie. Lies are all he has to work with.
I’m so glad that scripture is clear in these matters! The outcome is most certainly not in doubt.
Nor is the outcome dependent in the slightest on any strength in us. So, what is the war all about?
Why is it this way?
Heb. 2:6-8 quotes from Psalm 8: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man
that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with
glory and honor and put everything under their feet.”
In spite of mankind’s exalted place in the order of things, we see sin enter. In Gen 3:22 we read,
“And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He
must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live
forever.’” Notice the expression, “knowing good and evil.”
In Ps. 45:6-7 David wrote these wonderful words, later quoted in the first chapter of Hebrews
and applied to Christ: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will
be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God,
your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Our Savior knew both good and evil; the key is that he loved, and therefore chose righteousness
over wickedness. And he it is to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been granted in
order to gather and build a kingdom that will ultimately rule over a new creation free from evil.
Matt. 28:18-20. 1 Cor. 15:24-25. Rev. 21:1-4.
God’s purpose in this present world is to bring forth a family of sons and daughters who,
knowing both good and evil, uncompromisingly choose good. And, since we are naturally
incapable of that, that is where salvation comes in. What is impossible with us is possible with
God.
Human nature is corrupted by sin and subject to death. It cannot be fixed. It can only be replaced.
Hence the need for a new birth in which we receive God’s own immortal life, a life that can
never be corrupted.
Thus, the purpose of our living in this world is to grow up in this new life and be made ready for
that perfect world to come. And when this purpose is fulfilled, God’s family will be fully ready
to rule over that world. Sin and death will be gone forever!
How well Paul expresses this truth in Rom 8:28-30 – “And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those
God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he
called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
I wonder how many of those who so readily quote these words truly believe them! Do we really
believe the “all things” part? Even the “bad” stuff? Yes, he really does mean “all things”!
In this earthly life, those who are called to be a part of this kingdom are called upon to make real
choices. But what kind of “choice” would it be if we lived in a place free from evil? Remember
what it says of our Savior in Heb 2:18 – “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he
is able to help those who are being tempted.”
And Heb 4:15, speaks of Christ’s place as our “priest,” able to represent us before a holy God, in
these words: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Again,
we see real choices involved.
In the first place we still live in earthly bodies infected with Adam’s life. That life loves sin and
hates God. There is no other way to put it.
And Satan sends his spiritual soldiers against all who set out to serve Christ. That’s why Paul
wrote as he did in Eph. 6. In verses 11-13 he says, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can
take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
And the world’s culture, the ideas that masquerade as truth in this fallen world around us, are
another very real force to be overcome. Satan’s lies are “baked” into human culture and basically
promote anything but Jesus Christ, God’s Son and the truth of the gospel. Unless and until God
invades a human heart and supernaturally reveals truth, our situation is hopeless. But thank God
for the hope of that gospel! 2 Cor. 4:3-6.
So, here we are: the world itself, the devil that rules the world and attacks Christians, and the old
nature still living in our earthly bodies all oppose us as long as we are here. With all this against
us how can we hope to overcome?
Much could certainly be written unpacking Satan’s lies, his tactics, and how to deal with them,
but the central question I want to deal with is this: where do we get the resources that enable us
to overcome, to grow up to become all God has designed us to be?
Go back again to that football player. Where did he get what he needed to become a mature
athlete? There were indeed many things involved in the process, but the underlying principle is
simply this: all he ever became was “in there” from the moment he was conceived in his
mother’s womb. All of it!
And so it is with us. Remember the seed? There was a part that had to die, but the inner part
contained all that it would ever become. And we are the seeds that Jesus died to produce. We
have in us a life capable of growing up to completely fulfill God’s purpose.
So here we are, possessing immortal life, yet facing very real earthly challenges. What is
needed? Well, what did that football player need? Time, of course! But beyond time he needed
proper food that would nourish his body, proper exercise to strengthen his body, and proper
education to help him understand and use his abilities meaningfully.
Basically, that’s what we need as well. It should be obvious that the food we need is God’s Word.
Yet it is more than mere words on pages. We need the words, but we also need the Author! He
uses those words to nourish our spirits with both truth and life. When a humble seeking heart
reaches out to the Author, the Word becomes a channel of divine life that strengthens and enables
us to grow up spiritually. It transforms our thinking so we can recognize Satan’s lies and walk in
truth. The more we drink in what the world offers the weaker we become; but the more we drink
in God’s Word, the stronger we become in Him.
How would it be if that football player just went from day to day, exercising, facing the daily
challenges — and forgot to eat?! Clearly that wouldn’t work for long! He would quickly become
weak and discouraged, even though he truly has all he needs within and it simply needs proper
nourishment to grow and mature.
God’s Word also helps us to understand how God does things. It enables us to more and more
recognize how He uses the things we experience in this life, both the good and the bad, to give us
the “exercise” we need. And remember that His priority is not comfort and ease in this life but
preparation for the next and helping us to be useful to the kingdom while we are here.
I have no doubt that the football player often wondered and complained about what it took to
become strong and skillful enough to compete at the highest level. But his coach and trainer
knew best. Ours does too!
One issue that comes to mind regarding our subject is this: it is easy in times of difficulty to
think of the answer as “out there somewhere” and wonder how to obtain it. Satan causes us to
focus on the problem and upon our weakness and inability, when God desires us to look to Him
and believe in what He is doing in us.
One of my favorite scriptures is found in 2 Peter 1:3-4 – “His divine power has given us
everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own
glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the
world caused by evil desires.”
Another is the whole last passage of Romans 8 following the statement about all things working
together to fulfill God’s purpose in those He loves. Rom. 8:31-32 includes these words: “If God
is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us
all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Don’t forget to read the
rest of that wonderful chapter!
There are many other related truths that could be explored but to sum up the main thought: we
have everything we need in Christ to fulfill our place here in this world, and to grow up to be all
that God has planned for us to be. It’s “in there” and simply needs time, proper nourishment, and
proper exercise. In the heat of battle, never forget this simple truth. Stand. Believe. Trust.
Actively look to Him to strengthen the life He has already given you, a life fully capable of
growing up to be like Christ and fulfilling an amazing “forever” destiny. To God be the glory!